Little Bird

Chapter Fifty-One

Draco

Eve was getting her stuff together two nights before the first of September, and I was trying to help her pack—but it quickly became clear that I wasn't much help at all.

I'd nearly ripped one of her shirts pulling it out of the dresser, and several of her necklaces had gotten into such a twisted, giant knot because of me that neither of us had been able to fix it without using magic. When I went to move a small bundle of clothing to the trunk, a pile of her underwear fell out onto the floor, and Eve shrieked as she dove to hide them.

"Close your eyes, close your eyes," she said quickly, scrambling to pick them up and shove them all into her trunk without me seeing. "Don't look—"

"Why not?" I grinned, but I'd automatically turned my gaze towards the ceiling. Cheekily, I told her, "It's not like I've never seen it before."

"I'm going to kill you," Eve snapped teasingly, finally stuffing the last pair in and standing. She shook her head as she took the clothes from me, rolling her eyes and saying, "You're a pain in the butt to pack with, has anyone ever told you that?"

I pretended to think about it for a second, standing by the door as she went back to folding. "Nope, you'd be the first. You're also the only person I know who actually folds everything before packing it."

"What? I can't just stuff it all in, it'll get wrinkled..."

I laughed and she glared at me playfully from across the bed, crossing my arms as she continued to fold her shirts carefully. The evening sunlight was fading from the sky, so I told her after a moment, "I'll go downstairs and start dinner, okay? I should probably leave before I ruin anything else."

Eve was still smiling as she said, "Okay. Come get me if you need help; I know how you are in the kitchen."

I clutched my chest as I started for the door, unable to hide my grin as I said, "That hurts, Eve, that really does. I'll be back in a bit when it's ready."

But when I shut the guest room door behind me, I didn't go to the kitchen. I started straight for my room, because I needed to Owl someone—and I didn't want Eve to know. I had scarcely left her side since we'd run into her aunt last week, so this was the first chance I'd had to slip away and write the letter I had been planning to make for weeks now.

I needed to write to Flint about looking out for Eve at school this year.

Locking the bedroom door behind me, I crossed the room and rifled through my cluttered desk for a piece of parchment and a decent quill. The ink pot was nearly empty, so I had to practically scrape the bottom with the tip of the quill just to get enough. I scribbled the letter as quickly as I could, knowing I didn't have much time. I didn't want Eve to know I was doing this.

I kept it brief, but it was hard to avoid the almost desperate tone in my words; I needed Flint to tell me he would watch out for Eve this year, especially with Zabini and the Carrows. I wrote that I wasn't going to be coming back to school this year and I needed him to keep an eye on Eve since I wouldn't be able to, asking him to make sure that nothing bad would happen to her for me. As I folded the letter after barely skimming it back over, I wondered if he would blame me for staying at home while Eve went back to Hogwarts.

He would never know how hard I had fought to change it.

I sat on the edge of my bed as the black barn owl disappeared in the sky, the darkness growing around me while I waited for a response. Flint didn't live very far away from the manor, so I was hoping he would write back as soon as he could. The last thing I wanted was for Eve to go downstairs wondering what was taking so long and find out that I had lied.